Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause. That said, they’re the kata hubungs of English. Conjunctions include the words than, though, if, as long as, because, nor, blahblahblah. In usage:

Ali had to return home immediately as soon as Noora called him.

Bob made dinner although it was morning.

In the first sentence, the word ‘as soon as’ is the conjunction, connecting the two clauses, ‘Ali had to return home immediately’ and ‘Noora called him’.

In the second sentence, the word ‘although’ is the conjunction, connecting the two clauses, ‘Bob made dinner’ and ‘It was morning’.

From these examples, you will have a definite understanding of what conjunctions do – they link two ayats to form another ayat, if you do get me.

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that show a relationship between a noun/pronoun with some other word in the sentence. Tak faham lagi? Take a look at the exemplary sentences below:

Mark fell into the hole

Lucy leapt across the puddle of water

In the first sentence, the word ‘into’ is the preposition, showing the relationship between the words ‘Mark fell’ and ‘The hole’, which shows that he was a careless lil’ fella.

In the second sentence, the word ‘across’ is the preposition, showing the relationship between the words ‘Lucy leapt’ and ‘The puddle of water’ – It describes how and where she leapt the water. See, ‘leapt the water’ doesn’t even sound right! That’s why prepositions are useful.

Pronouns

Pronouns are the kata ganti nama of English. They are words that take the place of a noun. That is because sometimes nouns can be a pain in the posterior end. Read the below excerpt:

John has a dog. John’s dog is named Kitty. John and Kitty love each other. John loves John’s dog. Kitty loves Kitty’s master.

Wasn’t that sentence hard to read? Now take a look at the ameliorated one:

John has a dog. His dog is named Kitty. They love each other. John loves his dog. Kitty loves its master.

Much better. Pronouns prevent repetitions of any aforementioned word/element in the sentence/passage which causes redundancy. Pronouns (see?) include his, her, their, they, she, he, it, its and the like.

Interjections

Interjections refer to abrupt remarks, with the exclamation sign ‘!’ after it. Kata seru, if you may. For example, ‘Ah!’, ‘Wow!’, ‘Alas!’, ‘Gee!’ and whatnot. They convey excitement, surprise, anger or happiness. Generally, they aren’t used in formal writing, but more in speech and creative writing.

That’s it for #3! Next, we’ll stress on Adjectives and Adverbs, if you still do not know what those are.

You may think that we’re done with verbs. *laughs* Nope, not yet. Enter auxiliary verbs (stay with me, buddy).

Auxiliary Verbs (Helping Verbs)

What are Auxiliary Verbs? They appear the most obscure, but are actually the easiest to understand. Auxiliary verbs are verbs that are used together with the main verb of the sentence to express the action or state. To put simply, they complement the main verb. Can’t follow? Look at the exemplary sentence below:

They are working.

You might not notice, but there are actually two verbs in this sentence. The obvious one is ‘working’, which is the main verb. The not-so-obvious one is the word ‘are’, which is the auxiliary verb. See how the word ‘are’ complements the word ‘working’ to form a proper sentence? Good, that’s the purpose of auxiliary verbs – to ‘help’ the main verb.

Auxiliary verbs are divided into two groups, primary auxiliary verbs and modal auxiliary verbs. Primary auxiliary verbs include the words are, was, am, is, were, has, had, have, be. Modal auxiliary verbs include the words shall, can, could, must, dare, used to. On the side note, auxiliary verbs have no meaning when on their own. Next, finite and non-finite verbs.

Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

Imagine finite verbs as the nice, obedient and rules-following kid, and non-finite verbs as its younger brother – the bully and the one that gives you the most headaches. Perfect.

Finite verbs are verbs that have a definite relation to the subject or noun. For instance, the verb ‘walks’ in ‘She walks to the market’. The usual, basic stuff, ya know.

Non-finite verbs do not show tense, person or number. They are simply verbs that function as either nouns, adjectives or adverbs. The rules-breaking kid, basically.

Non-finite verbs are broken down into three types: Gerunds, Infinitives and Participles. Most you have probably heard of, but never knew what they were.

Gerunds

Okay, so what are gerunds? Gerunds are nouns that are derived from verbs by adding -ing. Basically, they are nouns that are verbs that are nouns. Amazing.

For instance, look at the below sentences:

Shopping is evil.

Robin enjoys fishing.

In the first example, the word ‘shopping’ is a gerund, where the verb shop is added an -ing to make the verb function as a noun, shopping.

In the second example, the word ‘fishing’ is also a gerund, where the verb fish is added an -ing to make the verb function as a noun, fishing.

Infinitives

Infinitives are just like gerunds, only that they take the word ‘to’ before the main verb.

As a case in point:

She wants to go shopping.

Aunt Jane has to make a toast for her child.

In the first example, the word ‘to go’ is an infinitive, where the word to is added to the verb go to make it function as a noun.

In the first example, the word ‘to go’ is also an infinitive, where the word to is added to the verb make to also make it function as a noun.

Participles

Participles are also just like gerunds, but instead of just adding -ing to a verb to turn it into a non-finite verb, it also takes the suffix -ed. Also, participles do not make a verb function as a noun, it makes it function as an adjective. For example:

The tired dog caused a fire

That screaming lady is dead.

In the first sentence, the word ‘tired’ is a participle, which is the verb tire affixed to the suffix -ed. That makes the verb to act as an adjective, tired.

In the second sentence, the word ‘screaming’ is also a participle, which is the verb scream affixed to the suffix -ing. That also makes the verb to act as an adjective, screaming.

That is all for #2! Stay tuned for the next chapter, where I will finally not speak about verbs.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.“

–Aristotle

Now you’re probably wondering, “What does that quote have to do with anything we’re learning here?”. Nothing. I just like spicing things up with a quote or two.

Nouns

Back to the point. So, what exactly is a noun? A noun is any word that operates as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. To put simply, it names things. To put simply-er (Ironic), it’s the kata nama of English. A noun can function as a subject, an object, and a subject complement in a sentence.

There are two types of nouns, namely the common nouns (kata nama am) and proper nouns (kata nama khas). Common nouns name a class of entities, e.g chair, tables, yellow, three. Proper nouns name a specific entity , e.g Pak Abu, Taman Kentut, The Walking Ded.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, that is, they can denote two or more of the same entity. For example, chair into chairs, bottle into bottles, butt into butts. Uncountable nouns, however, cannot take a plural, e.g water cannot be pluralised into water, furniture cannot be pluralised into furnitures.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity. Simply put, it’s the penjodoh bilangan of English. That ‘seutas’ you see in ‘seutas jam tangan’ and ‘angkatan’ in ‘angkatan tentera’? Yes. That. Case in point, a herd of cows, a pandemonium of parrots, an army of ants, et cetera. You get me.

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Abstract and concrete nouns; what are they? Concrete nouns are physical entities that can be observed by, at least, one of the senses. For instance, you can touch a dog, smell a soiled diaper, taste the soiled diaper (not encouraged) and see stuff. Very concrete, indeed. Abstract nouns, withal, refer to abstract objects; that is, ideas, feelings or concepts. Put simply, anything you can’t observe with your senses, such as imagination, future, justice, hatred and so on. So technically, you can’t see your future. Good luck.

Verbs

Now that you’ve got an impression of the usage of nouns, let’s move on to its much tougher, tattooed sibling — Verbs. What are verbs, you may be asking? Verbs are words used to describe an action, state, or occurrence. Right now, you are probably commenting on this post, “Bro, that’s adjectives lah bro”, and you’re very, very wrong. Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns, whereas verbs describe actions. Happy? But then again, you may also wonder, “Then adverbs leh?”. Adverbs show how a verb is being performed. Basically, adverbs describe a description of an action. English is beautiful. Also, its the kata kerja of English.

There are four types of verbs (at least the types that we’re going to cover lah): Intransitive verbs (kata kerja tak transitif), Transitive verbs (kata kerja transitif), Ditransitive verbs and Copular verbs. Oh boy is this going to get boring.

Intransitive and Transitive Verbs

These phrases may sound like rocket science to you, but it’s really not. First, you need to know what objects are. Objects are just nouns. Not hard, right? Now we can proceed. Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not need an object. For example, that man wept, the boy ran, that woman spoke. See, no objects. These verbs may also be followed by an adverb – that man wept gloomily, the boy ran steadily,that woman spoke quietly.

Enter transitive verbs. Transitive verbs are followed by nouns or noun phrases, or put simply, objects. For instance, the man earned money. ‘earned’ is the transitive verb, whereas ‘money’ is the object. Elementary, is it not?

Ditransitive Verbs

This is the part that gets you scratching your head in the beginning, then amazed once you understand the concept of it. Ditransitive verbs, according to Wikipedia, is a verb which takes a subject and two objects which refer to a theme and a recipient. Not helping, I know. Let me ease your headache by going through it slowly. Okay, so Wikipedia said one subject and two objects, right? Take a look at this exemplary sentence:

Mary gave John two apples.

A subject is a person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with. In this case, it’s Mary. (one subject, found!)

The two objects are the two nouns that you can find in this sentence. Yes, it’s John and apples. (two objects found!) John is the recipient, whereas apples are the theme.

So, what’s the verb following this one-subject-and-two-objects galore? Correct! It’s the verb ‘gave’. And there you have it, ditransitive verbs.

Copular Verbs

Sounds mildly familiar as to that of copulation, and is as sexy. Not really. Still headache-inducing. Alright, copular verbs; what are those? Copular verbs are verbs that can’t end a sentence or be followed by an adverb, but instead, must be followed by a noun or adjective. *coughs* What? Okay, take a look at these sentences:

That boy seemed lost

Her mother became a man

These sentences have one thing in common – they have copular verbs. So, what makes?

Okay, copular verbs must always be followed by a noun or an adjective. See any nouns? Yes, it’s the phrase ‘a man’ in the second sentence. See any adjectives? Correct, it’s the word ‘lost’ in the first sentence. So, the verbs are ‘seemed’ and ‘became’. Easy, right?

Note: Not all verbs that end with nouns and adjectives in a sentence are copular verbs; that’s the wrong idea. Copular verbs cannot end with anything else than adjectives and nouns.

That’s all for #1! Next, we’ll cover on Pronouns, Gerunds and more Verb stuff! (oh god.)